The Ten Step Rain-Dance Posted By Daniel Kaiser, Esq. on February 11, 2010
In the legal arena, regardless of how long you’ve been in the game, it always comes down to “making it rain.”
Myra L McKenzie, assistant general counsel in the Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. legal department, offers the following ten tips to rain-making in her article In Order to Make Rain, You Have to Know How to Gather the Clouds: Tips for Young Lawyers on Client Development, printed in the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division 101 Practice Series.
- 1. Do good work and always add value. [Produce a work product that is both timely and of high quality.]
- 2. Find out if you have a client development budget and use it. [A clear record of how this budget is used may lead to a larger budget.]
- 3. Be strategic. [Create and present a client development plan.]
- 4. Perfect your professional presentation. [How does your web biography look?]
- 5. Research you potential clients and their needs.
- 6. Carry business cards and use them.
- 7. Speak and speak often. [Build a reputation for competence in certain issues.]
- 8. Get active in the bar. [This can increase your visibility.]
- 9. Attend events frequented by in-house lawyers. [These are “face time” opportunities.]
- 10. Learn to “pitch.” [Practice closing the deal!]
The full text of McKenzie’s article can be found reprinted in The ABA’s periodical the Young Lawyer, Vol.14, No.5, p.6 (Feb.-Mar. 2010).
Illustration from Holamun2
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